Quiz Night
A/N: Oops, had a mind spasm and accidentally started referring to Finn as Cole in this chapter. I've corrected the chapter now. lol sorry.
"You think we should hang these here? On the fireplace?" Punk asked, holding some string fairy lights along the fireplace whilst AJ stood in front.
"You want to be me so bad." AJ scoffed.
"What?" Punk turned to her.
"I am the queen of fairy lights." She insisted.
"So I can't be the king?" He turned to her as she rolled her eyes.
"They look good, Phil." Becca nodded, sitting at a table in Punk's shop, digging into a bag of chips.
"Can you stop eating our snacks?" Daryl looked over at her, "Why are you all over here, anyway?" He huffed.
"I invited them." Punk turned to Daryl with a look of warning.
It was an hour before their Saturday night Quiz Night debut. Punk had closed his coffee shop for an hour at 5pm to give them time to set up for the quiz and get the coffee shop looking a bit cosier. He was determined to give people a good hang out spot for their Saturday night. He'd invited AJ over to help set up, which of course meant Lyla, Becca and Shiv had to come along too.
"Who is hosting the quiz?" Lyla asked curiously, "Like… who's asking the questions and keeping scores?"
"We asked Linda's husband. Pete." Punk said.
"Great, another old person." Becca shook her head, "I invited Patrick, by the way. Hope that's ok."
"Who's Patrick?" Punk asked, hanging the string lights over the fireplace.
"Mister Eckles grandson." AJ explained, helping Punk with the lights.
"And you invited him because?" Punk turned to Becca.
"Because I've been enjoying his company as of late." Becca nodded.
"Hey, where is Maple?" Shiv asked curiously, turning to Daryl who was standing behind the counter.
"Oh, she just comes and goes as she pleases." Daryl nodded, "Thinking about making a little cat flap for her."
"No. We're not doing that." Punk made clear, "Does this look tacky?" He asked AJ.
"No, it's nice." AJ shook her head, "I brought some of these over in case you're interested." She said, wandering over to the table where the girls were sitting, grabbing the bag and taking it over to Punk.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It's fake candles. You just switch them on at the bottom. Was thinking they'd be good on the tables." She said, taking one out to show him as he nodded.
"They're great." Punk nodded with a smile, leaning in and kissing her cheek as she smiled.
Never in either of their wildest dreams did they think they would be here, working in harmony, no longer coffee shop enemies but wishing for the other to succeed.
"Why am I always getting left to clean the ovens?" Finn came out from the kitchen in the back unhappily with a pair of yellow cleaning gloves on.
"Nice gloves." Lyla smirked.
"Because that's the stuff I pay you for." Punk nodded to Finn, "They're not that dirty. Don't be dramatic."
"Has Pete made the quiz up? Or have you?" Becca asked Punk curiously, "Do you know the answers?"
"No, Pete made it up. He's a smart dude. Used to be a math teacher at the school here." Punk nodded.
"Yeah, he taught my mom." Daryl nodded.
"So you'll be participating in the quiz?" AJ smiled to Punk whilst putting the candles onto the tables with him.
"Maybe." Punk nodded, "Why? Care for some friendly competition?" He smirked.
"We should do boys versus girls." Shiv nodded excitedly.
"And the winner gets?" Lyla asked.
"Winner gets Maple." Becca smirked to Daryl who glared at her.
"Absolutely fucking not." Daryl smiled to Becca.
"How about… losers have to clean up the other shop for a week at closing." Punk smirked.
"Then Cole better keep those cute gloves on, cause he's gonna be cleaning all week." Lyla smiled.
"I don't like this competition." Finn shook his head.
"We can kick their asses and then they have to clean up this place for a week? I'm in." Daryl nodded.
"You're going down." Shiv nodded, "We take competition very seriously at The Brewberry."
"We're aware." Punk assured her, "You in?" He turned to AJ.
"Oh, it's on." AJ nodded seriously.
"The capital of Bangladesh?" Becca shook her head, sitting at a table in Punk's coffee shop later that night, the quiz in full swing.
"Where is Bangladesh?" Lyla asked, turning to AJ who tried to think, tapping the pencil against their piece of paper with their answers.
The coffee shop was packed. The fact it was dark outside, and the sun had gone down, meant that the fairy lights Punk had hung as well as all the LED candles on the tables made the shop look warm and inviting.
The place was packed, not a single seat was left to spare. From young friends having fun, to parents with their young kids, to elderly people. Everyone was either enjoying the alcohol they had brought with them or was enjoying a coffee or tea which Punk had served for them at the counter. Not to mention, Pete had been an excellent host throughout the quiz.
Punk, Daryl and Finn were also playing along in the quiz, standing behind the counter with their own piece of paper and writing down their answers, occasionally giving death stares to The Brewberry girls.
"I'm sure the capital of Bangladesh is Dhaka." Shiv said quietly to the girls.
"How the hell would you know that?" Becca turned to Shiv, "Like… seriously?"
"I know a lot of useless information." Shiv shrugged, "I could be wrong."
"Well, I got nothing." AJ said, "So we're going with that."
"These questions are a bit difficult." Patrick said, also sitting with the girls per Becca's invitation. He was a handsome young man. Shaggy brown hair and some stubble. And the girls could see that he had the same dry and unhinged personality as Becca.
"You're just a little dummy." Becca frowned to him as he nodded, taking a sip from his beer.
"It's general knowledge. It's stuff we should all know." AJ said with frustration, looking over to Punk and his boys whilst they discussed their answer and then wrote one down confidently.
"Ok. Next question." Pete announced after giving the appropriate time for people to jot down answers, "Who hosted the 1970 Olympics?"
"For Christ's sake." Lyla shook her head, "Does Pete know that majority of us weren't born until after 1980. Just because he's three hundred years old."
"Munich." Patrick nodded quietly as they all turned to him, "You know… in Germany."
"We know where Munich is." AJ scoffed.
"Write it down." Becca nodded.
"Maple is back." Daryl announced to the girls excitedly from the counter.
"Oh, can I go see her?" Shiv smiled, looking to the girls for approval.
"Quickly." AJ nodded, "You're the smartest out of all of us here." She admitted.
Shiv nodded and got up from her seat, rushing over behind the counter, "Where is she?" Shiv asked Daryl.
"At the back door." Daryl said, leading her through the kitchen and opening up the back door where Maple was sat meowing on the step.
"Hi mama." Shiv smiled, sitting down on the step at the door, putting her hand out as Maple approached her, rubbing herself against Shiv's legs whilst Shiv scratched her softly.
"I got her checked at the vet." Daryl smiled, "She's all good. Vet estimated she had kittens about three months ago." He said, whilst picking up the bowls they had been leaving at the back step for Maple, taking them back into the kitchen to fill them up with food and water.
"She's such a pretty colour." Shiv smiled, "I don't know what I'm going to do without my cat when I go to college." She frowned.
"When do you leave?" Daryl asked, bringing the bowls back out and sitting them down for Maple, taking a seat on the step beside Shiv.
"A week on Monday." Shiv said, "Getting kinda nervous about it now." She admitted.
Ever since they worked together at the Summer Fair, they had been less hostile with one another, and even more so since Daryl's hospital trip a few weeks ago. It felt like they were finally cooling off from all the tension and drama they had going on.
"You'll do great." Daryl nodded, watching Maple tuck into the tuna he'd given her, "You'll fit right in."
"I don't know about that." Shiv said modestly, "I think I might actually miss this place." She admitted, "I always thought I'd jump at the opportunity to leave it but… now that I'm actually leaving, it's pretty scary."
"Everyone always wants to leave this place until they actually have to leave it." Daryl said.
"Yeah." Shiv nodded.
"I thought you were coming back at the weekends?" He turned to her.
"Only every second weekend." Shiv said.
"You always wanted to go to college, though." Daryl pointed out, "You'll have a blast. You'll meet tons of new people and I bet the coffee shops will be endless." He said as she smiled.
"Nothing on the Brewberry, though." Shiv defended, "The girls are doing a leaving party for me, next Saturday."
"That's nice of them." Daryl nodded, "Phil mentioned something about it."
"You're invited, obviously." Shiv nodded.
"I'll be there." Daryl assured her as she smiled.
"She loves that." Shiv smiled, nodding to Maple who was very happily sitting eating the food Daryl had given her.
"Yeah, she loves her tuna." Daryl nodded.
"Doesn't she like coming inside the shop?" Shiv asked.
"Sometimes. Mostly when there's no customers. She always shows up for breakfast and dinner, though." Daryl said.
"Maybe she goes back to where her babies are." Shiv smiled, "Surprised she hasn't brought them." She laughed a little.
"Yeah, Phil keeps telling me one day I'm going to open the door and there's going to be like six kittens sitting there with her." Daryl said as Shiv smiled.
"I bet you'd love that." Shiv chuckled as Daryl nodded.
"She's just so cute." Daryl shrugged as Shiv smiled.
"How's your leg?" She asked.
"Still the same." Daryl shrugged, "Hurts sometimes after a busy shift. Been trying to go running in the morning but I can only manage a mile or so before it hurts."
"That's a mile more than I can do." Shiv said.
"It's just weird… going from being active all the time. Playing football every week. Training hard. To just… nothing." Daryl said.
"I know. I was there when it all happened." She said quietly as he turned to her, "You didn't want me there, but I was. I know it was rough for you."
"I'm learning to accept it, I think." Daryl nodded to her, "I like working at this place. When I wake up, I'm not mad about coming here. And I've been getting along with Finn, actually. He's ok." He nodded.
"Because I'm not dating him anymore?" She looked at him as he looked back.
"No. That's not what I said." Daryl scoffed, "I can see why you guys ended things, though. Long distance would have been hard."
"Yeah, it would." Shiv agreed, watching Maple with a smile.
"You're going to do great at college, Siobhan." Daryl nodded as she turned to him, "You're the smartest person I know. And any friends you make will be lucky to have you." He said as she looked at him, nodding slowly, trying to think about what to say next. She'd missed this Daryl. For so long he'd become unrecognisable to her. Not the same boy she'd grown to love and care for. But she could start to see him again, finally. And it was very confusing for her.
"Daryl…" Shiv began.
"Can you two get back in here?" Punk came into the kitchen as they both turned around, "We're onto the last questions. This is serious stuff." He said seriously as they both just laughed.
"Ok, we're coming." Shiv laughed, standing up from the step as Daryl followed her back into the front of the shop.
"How does it feel to be a loser?" Punk smiled, walking down the street with AJ, his arm around her shoulder as she leaned against his body as they walked.
"You've asked me that six times now." AJ rolled her eyes, "We are not cleaning your shop."
"Hey, that was the competition. If we lost, you'd be expecting us to clean your place." Punk said.
"Pete's questions were sexist. They were all about sports and geography." AJ said.
"Geography isn't sexist. Neither is sports." Punk chuckled, "You lost. Fair and square." He nudged her teasingly.
"I don't want to hear about it for the rest of the night." She huffed.
"Such a sore loser." He smirked, leaning in and kissing her neck as she slapped his stomach, "Since you're a loser, you should do whatever I want tonight." He spoke into her ear as she chuckled.
"Pretty sure I'll do whatever you want, anyway." She murmured back as he smiled, "It was a good night, though. You should be proud of yourself. Everyone had a great time."
"Yeah, people seemed to enjoy it." Punk agreed, "So Becca is dating Mister Eckles grandson?" He asked.
"I don't think they're dating but they're… doing something, I suppose." AJ said, "He provided us with a lot of answers tonight, actually."
"So, we beat you with just three in our team and you had five?" He whistled, "Makes it even funnier."
"Phil." She whined unhappily as he chuckled, walking along to her apartment which was a regular occurrence now. Truthfully, Punk had only been to his apartment a handful of times in the past month, just to pick up some clothes.
"I fear I may have interrupted something with Daryl and Shiv." He told her.
"Interrupted what?" AJ asked curiously.
"They just seemed in deep conversation." Punk said, "I wonder how Daryl feels about her going off to college."
"Not thrilled, I bet." AJ said.
"I should lock them in the fridge, shouldn't I? Make them get all their feelings out." Punk nodded as AJ chuckled.
"No, you definitely shouldn't." AJ said, "I'm sure whatever they have to say, it'll come out eventually." She nodded, "When was the last time you actually slept at your apartment?" She questioned, reaching her apartment building and entering the code to open the main door.
"Honestly? No idea." Punk said, "Why? Getting sick of me?" He smirked, following her into the building.
"No." AJ said, "Just seems like such a waste on rent for you." She said, climbing the stairs up to her floor as he followed behind.
"You got any solutions?" He teased. He knew what she was getting at. They had both been teasing for a few weeks about the fact he spent every night with her at her apartment. It felt the time was right to actually address it more seriously.
"I don't know. Do you have any?" She teased back, reaching her apartment and rummaging in her bag for her key, feeling him take her hand to stop her for a moment, to get her full attention as she looked up at him.
"I don't want to rush it or anything." He nodded to her.
"You practically stay here, Phil." She smiled, "Just move in." She said casually with a smile. She realised it didn't have to be a huge deal. Perhaps with any other person she would have freaked out a little, but this man felt like her home. To not have him sleeping beside her would feel wrong.
"Are you asking me to move in with you?" He asked with a smile.
"Yes, I am." She nodded, looking up at him as he smiled, nodding and leaning down to kiss her softly, "If we get a storm, though, you'll need to sleep on the couch." She broke away from the kiss, speaking in a serious manner, "Because Lyla hates storms and she always stays over with me."
"Ok." Punk laughed a little at her seriousness, "I can do that."
"Ok." She smiled, taking her keys out and unlocking the door, "You'll be the sexiest roommate I ever have." She nodded, walking into her apartment, feeling him lift her up the second they got on the door as she giggled.
"God, I live with a loser now?" He questioned.
"Stop." She chuckled as he carried her into her bedroom. Their bedroom.